Young Adult Book Review

Poison Dance: A Novella by Livia Blackburne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The only bad thing about this novella is the cover: in the story, James is dark and rugged, a cold and ruthless assassin, who is yet capable of depth and feeling - much different than the eager, blonde, high school water polo player pictured on the cover.

The cover aside, this is something I've been longing to see: a well-written, no fluff, fantasy story set in an older time period, starring roguish characters fighting against a corrupt nobility. There are too many George R.R. Martin imitators on the market right now, too many Hunger Games wannabes, and too many horrible, masochistic YA romances, contemporary or paranormal as they may be. I have been aching for a fantasy story that was well written enough to feel realistic without going overboard with the gore and horror and freakyness you might find in Game of Thrones or its many imitators. Here is a novella that made me excited for what the author will do in the full-length to be released later this year.

Livia Blackburne's style is elegant and economical. No frills, but none are necessary, especially since we are seeing things from the third-person limited perspective of the young assassin James. The prose pitches you headlong into a narrative that I felt hard-pressed not to finish in one session (and which I would have, if my lunch break had not ended!). The pacing is strong, with the action consistently rising in intensity, with a beautiful climax at the end. We have forgotten what good writing can do to us - it means much more than the romance or the plot itself ever could. Good writing makes us care, because it makes us see into the small details that matter.

We smell the blood James has stained himself with, again and again. We see how James notes more and more of Thalia's beauty every time she dances, without even making it explicit to himself. We feel the mounting hatred he has for the pettiness of the people around him, and the injustices of the nobility, but all so beautifully subdued (just like his character) and written into his actions, never ever once told to us explicitly. This is the effect of good writing - conjuring something inside us that we only realize after the fact.

That is precisely why we are always told to show and not tell. Because in the showing, when it is done well, is where the magic happens.

Really looking forward to Ms. Blackburne's debut.


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